Jaxson Life: February 2009

Monday, February 9, 2009

Superbowl Party @ the Shack!!!

We had to break in the Shack with all the amazing peeps who helped us to make the Shack what it is today!!! :)

The Boys

(Stacy, Justin, Blake & Randy)

Randy was ready for the commercial in 3D

The Girls minus Krista

(Natalie, Robin & Ellen)

The Scrantons

(Krista & Stacy)

Stacy was wasting my camera battery :(

He took so long that we didn't get a picture of all the girls! :(

Sunday, February 8, 2009

January Flew by...

Alrighty, it's hard getting back into the swing of things with this blog business, especially when we don't have Internet at our new house yet and most of my blogging usually occurs LATE at night while catching up on some DVR shows. :)

Let's see... it's a new year now and it feels like a TON of stuff has changed in the life of the Jacksons.

I guess the most important things that come to the top of my head are...

We have moved!!! It's official... We have moved into a tiny garage/ shop apartment (the Shack is what we call it) in some close friends of ours backyard. They have some land so its really nice and peaceful and a fantastic way for us to save money for a while. I will make sure my next blog is all about the Shack so you can see the amazing transformation that we, with the help of our amazing friends, were able to make. :) Also, if for some reason you need our new address, just email me at robinj@communityoffaith.tv and I will get it to you. I feel really funny about posting my address on here for the whole wide world to see. Gotta watch out for those crazies! ;) Hehehe.

We have a new edition to the family. Blake's sister, Kari, had a baby boy named Boaz. She has 3 girls and finally has had a boy!

We are in full-fledged wedding planning mode with Whitney and Eric's day fast approaching... It has been moved and is now set for, June 26, 2009. :)

Blake and I are going to Africa on a mission trip June 14th-24th (getting home right in time for Whit's big day). We are super excited and cannot wait. Please be praying as we prepare mentally and physically for this trip. And pray that everything goes smoothly in the wedding planning are so that I can truly be in Africa and not be worrying about things on the home-front.

Um, I can't think of anything else right now. So, I will fill you in as they come to me! :)

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Some random pictures from January 2009

Painting the new place...

Eric had a concert with some buddies, supporting Iamchange.org,

where he rocked our faces off!

Being silly at the concert

Zack Jones ladies and gentleman... always a pleasure! ;)

Whitney and her friend Kelly

Kimi came home for a QUICK visit

I needed more time with her, but was thankful for the time we did get! :)

Natalie (I call her Napoli) had a birthday and we went to Napolis to celebrate!

We are so creative or corny, whichever you think! ;)

Blake and Justin @ Nat's "Cypress Family" B-day party

Ellen & I were having trouble being photogenic that night... we never did a "good" one.

Randy is ALWAYS the start of the show! Lol.

Boaz David Lynn Richardson

Born: January 17th, 2009 @ 6:49 PM

10lbs 1.5 oz. and 22" long and a 15.5" chest

He is a BIG boy!

Such a proud uncle

Blake is going to be such a good daddy one day!

We can't wait to have one of our own! ;)

Us with Baby Bo

He is such a sweet baby

Faith wanted to join the party

Good times with the family

Blake with his Uncle Bud and Grandma Wilson

Blake and his momma, he is such a momma's boy! ;)

Blake's mommy and me

Faith

Patrick finally got a boy after 3 girls!!!

It was also Kari's 36th birthday

Happy Birthday Keek!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

THE BIRD...

Back by popular demand is the finale to the bird story (click HERE to read part one of the story)...

Background info in case you don't want to read " Part 1": In Lieu of the Christmas season, Robin (being the decorative type that she is) decided to make a Christmas wreath. But this was no ordinary, store-bought, run of the mill wreath. We scoured the rows of Hobby Lobby until every last perfect bead, stick and leaf were found. So, after purchasing all the materials Robin put it together one night. (Time passes)...Late one night, Robin and I were coming home from a friend's house. We were exhausted and ready for bed before we even hit the door. As I approached the front door to unlock it, something small and bat-like flew out of the wreath. Scared us (moreso me) to death. I think I might have even peed myself a little. Then a couple days later we had another few run-ins with this territorial little creature. Every time we came to the front door, I would always give the wreath a little shake and sure enough, the bird would fly out.

Well, there was this one night...it was about 8pm and I had just come back from the grocery store. My arms were full of bags and my legs were extremely tired after fighting crowds and then climbing the stairs to our 3rd floor apartment. I had ONE thing on my mind, "Get in the door and get these groceries out of my hands". So I unlock the door and open it...I forget about the stupid bird. So in the darkness, I stumble in the house, the bird follows me in and I drop the groceries. At this point, I have no idea where my wing-ed friend is and I am not happy. Every time I move, I can feel it flutter around me and finally I find the light switch. As I turn it on, the bird goes nuts, like it's at rave in some downtown warehouse. I call Robin and she is mortified/laughing at me while asking "where is the bird?" I don't know. She comes home and eventually we find the bird...see pictures below.

Many people have asked "what happened to the bird after you found him?" Well the story ends in three easy steps: 1. We cornered the bird in our guest room, 2. I hit him with a broom, knocking it to the ground 3. I released the bird into the wild on the balcony. Ok, the last step is a lie. I accidentally killed the bird in the guest room as I was trying to wrangle him in. And then, I gently tossed him over the balcony. I really am an animal lover... but only when I invite them to live in my house.

Enjoy the holidays,

Blake

Thursday, February 5, 2009

A whirlwind of a holiday... I am exhausted!!!

WOW... I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted... I will try to catch up in the next few days, I promise!

Let's see, where do I even begin? It all started on December 23rd, we had our 1st of 4 Christmas Candlelight services @ Community Of Faith. December 24th we spent all day at the church again! We had 3 more services, they went really great! We had a lot of fun, especially because Blake and I got to sing together again, it had been WAY too long! In between two of the services, we invited the special needs children from our foster home the we support to sing with us. They came up on stage and sang with us and the band, we video recorded it and made many of their dreams come true! Such a neat experience that I will never forget!!!

After we finished up our last Christmas Eve service at COF, around 8:30 PM, we headed to Katy to open presents and hang out with Blake's family. It was so fun to see his nieces get excited about the gifts, it made us remember how fun Christmas can be when you are with family. We are definitely blessed and had a blast hanging out with the Jacksons! :) Love you guys! We spent the night at Kari, Blake's sister's house that night and woke up to stockings from Santa and a family breakfast on Christmas morning.

We then, jumped in the truck and headed to the Woodlands to have Christmas morning with my family around 10 AM. My parents hooked us up with a video camera and we got all kinds of great stuff, but the best part was just getting to hang with my familia. I love them so much and adore the time we get to spend with them. We hung out for about an hour, then jumped in our cars and hit the road to head to Borger (it's an itty bitty town 1 hour Northeast of Amarillo, where all my family lives). It was a long road trip, but fun because Blake and I LOVE to travel together, we are a great team! ;) Christmas Day was full of driving and we ate Christmas dinner at a gas station Subway in Quanah, TX... wah-hoo! (oh the memories) About 10 or 11 hours later, we finally arrived at my grandparents house.

Friday, December 26th, we had Christmas with my Nana and mom's side of the family. It was probably the last Christmas we will have at my Nana's house (she lives in an assisted living center and is planning on selling her house this year), so it was a little emotional. It is so sad to see those you love getting older. I am struggling with that right now, I am not a big fan of change. I love traditions and have a hard time dealing with change. Overall, we had fun and I loved getting to spend some time with my Nana!

Saturday, December 27th, we started off the morning with a phone call that Blake's grandma Jackson had unexpectedly passed away, thus began the true chaos of our holiday break. We quickly began making plans of how to get from Amarillo, Texas to Cody, Wyoming ASAP.

Sunday, December 28th, we woke up and went to my Papa Jim's church (my dad's dad has been a pastor of a church in the Panhandle for 50 plus years). It was great to see the whole family and we even sang a special song together. I mean ALL OF US... Dad, Blake, me, Whitney, Eric, and Nathan. Mom wouldn't sing with us but she ran sound. We are quite the traveling family band! ;) Hehehe. It was a lot of fun! We came home with my dad's whole side of the family and had a big family lunch and played games all afternoon. It was such a precious time that I am so thankful for! After the cousins, aunts and uncles left my Granny Bev's house, Blake and I began packing to leave the next morning.

Monday, December 29th, it was time for Blake and I to leave my family and drive home to Houston. It took us ALL DAY and we got home late that night, just in time to repack and get ready to fly out to Wyoming the next morning.

Tuesday, December 30th, we drove to the airport and flew to Denver, Colorado, where we had a short layover. Then got on a teeny tiny plane that took us to a hole in the wall town in Cody, Wyoming. That itty bitty plane ride is a totally different story all it's own... short version, I thought I was going to die... we were on row 9 of the 9 rows of the entire plane!!! We got into Wyoming late that night and drove about 30 minutes to an even smaller town called Powell, Wyoming. It was there on the Jackson far that I finally got to meet the whole Jackson clan for the very first time! :) They were so so sweet... gentle giants. I am not even 5 foot tall and not a single one of them were under six feet tall... I felt like I was in the land of the giants, but the entire family could not have been more excepting and loving towards me!

Wednesday, December 31st, today was a hard day. We had to bury his Grandma J. Blake and I sang at the funeral and I was so proud of him, he was so strong! The family was incredibly strong as well. It was such a neat time of hearing all of the neat stories of the legend of the woman I never got to meet. She was the backbone of the Jackson family and left a huge legacy behind and I am so blessed to have been a part of this special day that brought honor to Grandma J. We love and miss you very much and know that you are smiling down, so proud of the family you left behind!!! Then we got to hang with all the cousins and bring in the New Year all together... what a sweet time!

Thursday, January 1st, we woke up at the butt crack of dawn and flew home... FINALLY. We were exhausted!

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Here are some pictures from our crazy Christmas Holiday